She said: 'My family and I are hopeful that we can put this whole ordeal behind us. We need and deserve to focus on our daughters future. We hope that from this something good can arise.

'I feel I have an opportunity to bring an awareness to others, possibly change the mentality of a youth or help a parent to have more of an awareness to where their children are and what they are doing.'

She asked people to pray for her daughter before adding: ' I ask every person listening what if this
was your daughter, your sister or your friend? We need to stress the
importance of helping those in need and to stand up for what is right.'

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Trent Mays, 17, and 16-year-old Ma’lik Richmond were found guilty on Sunday of raping the 16-year-old girl.

Both have been sentenced to a minimum of one year in a juvenile detention institution.

Mays faced an additional charge of the use and dissemination of nude images of a minor. He received the same sentence for that to run consecutively. His minimum detention is two years.

After the guilty verdict was read out in court, Ma'lik Richmond approached the victim’s mother and said: ‘I’m so very sorry.’

She responded: ‘I know you are and I forgive you.’

Forgiveness: The mother of the rape victim forgave Ma'lik Richmond, right, today in court for the crimes he committed against her daughter

Trent Mays, 17, (left), stands and apologizes to the victim and her family after he and co-defendant Ma'Lik Richmond, 16, were found delinquent on rape and other charges after their trial in juvenile court in Steubenville, Ohio today

The extraordinary act of grace was made more remarkable by the fact that her daughter does not share her feelings and cannot yet forgive Richmond and Mays, 17, for what they did to her.

Speaking to MailOnline outside the Jefferson County Juvenile Court, the family’s solicitor, Bob Fitzsimmons, said: ‘It’s a very religious, spiritual family. They are praying for those two young men also.’

The family’s priest, Father Larry Dorsch, had been in court throughout the grueling trial and described them as very active members of St Paul’s Roman Catholic Church in Weirton.

Crime: Mays and Richmond were on Sunday found guilty of digitally penetrating a 16-year-old girl at a party last August

But asked if the victim too had forgiven the boys who betrayed her trust, humiliated her and preyed on her when she was at her most vulnerable Mr Fitzsimmons said: ‘I think she was prepared to do that.

'She came here wanting to forgive them but she hasn’t made that decision yet.’

He continued: ‘This thing might have never happened had someone approached the family sooner. ‘They are a very religious family. They would have accepted an apology at the time.’

The victim was not in court to hear the verdict delivered.

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